The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business, creating books which spark curiosity in children of all ages. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling That’s not my… series of touchy-feely books, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Holly Bourne and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé – with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between.  You can see our books here at usborne.com

Whilst the company is now a market-leader in children’s publishing and one of the best-known brands in children’s books, the company retains a friendly and family feel. If you want to work somewhere close-knit enough for people to know your name, which has a first-class reputation around the world, Usborne is the place for you.

The Department

The Fiction Design team create engaging and imaginative books for middle grade and YA readers. You will play a key role in shaping the look and feel of our fiction titles, from interior typography and text flow to commissioned illustration, with opportunities to support on covers.

You can see some of our Fiction books here:

Mondays Are Murder | Usborne | Be Curious

Cruise Ship Kid: Thief At Sea! | Usborne | Be Curious

Pia's Pet Club: Puppy Problem | Usborne | Be Curious

The Role

We are looking for a creative and versatile designer to focus primarily on the design of fiction interiors, including style-setting, flowing text, and commissioning illustration. Alongside this, you’ll have the chance to contribute to our cover design programme, supporting the team in creating bold, original, and commercially exciting covers.

This role is ideal for a designer who enjoys combining strong typographic and layout skills with a flair for illustration and a keen eye on design and publishing trends. You’ll be creating books that immerse readers through carefully considered typography and artwork, while also helping to produce covers that captivate and draw readers in.

Experience & Skills

You will have a degree in a design-related subject (or equivalent experience) together with 1–2 years’ experience in a design role, ideally within publishing or a related creative industry.

• Strong skills in typography, layout, and visual storytelling.

• Confident using Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop).

• A good eye for illustration and cover trends, with the ability to commission artwork.

• Able to work independently as well as collaboratively within a creative team.

• Comfortable managing multiple projects, adapting to changing priorities, and communicating effectively with colleagues across departments.

• A demonstrable passion and enthusiasm for fiction publishing.

We will be looking for a portfolio that demonstrates excellent typographic design, layout work, and visual creativity.

Location and Benefits

This role is based in our London, Farringdon office and we work a 35-hour working week, after a successful initial induction period (where we require new staff to work in the office for 4-5 days per week) we then operate a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home, which optimises our opportunities for creative collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

Please note: We cannot consider applications from staff who are unable to work from our London office as we have outlined.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits including:

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement increasing with service to 30 days after 5 years.

• Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.

• Employee Assistance Programme and Mental Health First Aiders.

• Healthcare Cashback scheme.

• Virtual GP service.

• Enhanced Family Friendly benefits.

• Paid Volunteer Day.

• Rewards and Discount services and shopping.

• Cycle to Work Scheme.

• 75% discount on Usborne books.

Recruitment Process

We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role and therefore applicants must have the right to permanently live and work in the UK at the point of application.

You will be asked to submit selected relevant examples of your work as PDF's via email as part of the selection process (full instructions given). Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a design spec in advance of first interviews (to be held in person) which are expected to commence in early-mid November. A final interview will take place with finalists at end of November.

Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments at any point during the application and/or recruitment process.

Usborne is dedicated to building a diverse taskforce that reflects the wide range of communities that read our books globally. Decisions are made based on the individual’s skills and experiences and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics in Publishing.

AI notice

The use of AI has become more prevalent in recruitment application answers and content and whilst AI is undoubtedly a useful tool, we'd like to see your original ideas and creativity in your portfolio, not work that has been generated by an AI tool.